The new High Elf Ranger animations don't seem to match the overall aesthetic of High Elves
All the high elf troops until now have looked super disciplined, standing perfectly still until combat and even in combat their attacks are purposeful and elegant.
The new high elf rangers use dark elf corsair animations and it really shows, they stick out like a sore thumb against the other high elf units with their sword flailing and throat cutting gestures.
It's a small thing but it just super stands out to me that these high elf units use animations that fit dark elves but not high elves.
Posted May 19, 2020, 2:37 PM UTC
13774
I don't know, I think it fits. They are supposed to be this relatively undisciplined, scattered force of guerilla fighters who mercilessly harass and delay the enemy until Ulthuan's standing armies arrive at the scene, from what I can gather. So it makes sense that they're less regimented and have an aggressive style of combat.
Obviously I'm trying to explain away the fact that CA just didn't want to create a separate animation rig for them, but if you ignore that one throat cutting animation that they do, then pretty much all their other animations still fit with their unit aesthetic.
Isn't that what Shadow Warriors already do? :p
Rangers sorta seem like a "quota" unit of 'well we gotta give the HE X number of new units, since they're in the dlc' and HE already has a really stacked unit roster, especially at the higher tiers. They might have a niche in multiplayer, but in campaign the HE play style really favors the silver shields of spearmen for not having a front line that needs three turns to replenish after every single fight.
And yeah they do seem to occasionally get a little lazy with dlc units occasionally. Stone Trolls looking nothing like stone trolls, free company militia running around yelling 'For Karl Franz' while fighting for Aranessa and Alarielle/Arkhan's crossfaction units being near a complete afterthought etc.
The last HE DLC had 2 units? And people complained there werent enough.
This one has 5, and now people are complaining they are being lazy reusing animations?
These elgi are never content no matter what you do..
Yeah I dont really get their logic. Would you rather not have the rangers in the game, because they dont fill a role in SP? It's kinda like when archers were added to the Empire, yeah Crossbowmen are better in every way, but sometimes in the early game you need a cheaper option.
Of course there'll always be people who complain there's not enough new units in DLCs - that's why we get 'quota' units to begin with.
Personally I'd much rather see a focus on improving weak units to make them worth using than just adding more. CA has done that - e.g. White Lions look like they've finally gotten some love in campaign, but e.g. Silver Helms weren't touched and still look like a unit that's largely not worth using.
But like I said, the HE unit roster barely had any holes to begin with, so it's not like it was easy for them to come up with new stuff that would actually fill a usable role.
They did have some pretty big holes in multiplayer, and the new units really fill them (Silverin Guard are a decently cheap unit that can actually hold against stuff like a Beastmen or Greenskins rush, rangers allow HE to clear chaff since they used to really struggle with swarms of cheap infantry, and the RoR Talons of Tor Caleda boost their ability to beat monsters through synergy with dragons and sisters, since HE used to really struggle against armored monsters). War lions and lion chariots are nice, but the AP anti infantry role was already served by nobles on chariots, although war lions are nice due to being relatively inexpensive by HE standards.
I think half the units were made primarily to help HE not be low tier in multiplayer, since their high cost and the fact that a lot of their units (spearmen, phoenix guard and especially swordmasters, ithilmar and tiranoc chariots, silver helms to some degree, handmaidens, frostheart phoenixes especially) are not at all cost effective. really matters in MP. In singleplayer, having a really top heavy roster with expensive but very elite units is a good thing, because you can build armies that are all phoenix guard and sisters of Avelorn, and your AI opponents aren't smart enough to counter the sisters properly. Even Sisters of Avelorn, which are one of the most powerful units in the game in single player, are kinda mediocre in multiplayer since human opponents are much better at swarming you with harass tools and going around your frontline, using the fact that you can't afford enough frontline units to protect the sisters without sacrificing all of your mass for preventing monsters from just walking through your lines.
Then some of the units are primarily for campaign (arcane phoenixes seem kinda trash from what I've seen of them in MP, not enough better than a flamespyre phoenix or sun dragon to ever be worth taking), and white lion chariots fill a niche that HE already had filled. I'd prefer this, where there are units meant for both SP and MP, over the last high elf DLC, where there's an OP lord, a hero that's only good in campaign, and two archers that are decent in campaign but niche in MP.
Compared to other factions High Elves have gotten least amount of unique animations for units or lords. Mostly being based on Wood Elf animations made for DLC in Game 1.
In this DLC Greenskins got Grom, Rogue Idol, River Trolls, Hag and Snotling Pump Wagon's all having unique animations along with models.
High Elves only new animations are for White Lions and some for Eltharion on foot, and Imrik blowing horn.
Ranger is kitbash of Archer head and body of Shadow Warrior using animation of Corsair, only swords might be new assets, so it is far from being truly new unit.
I mean it's to be expected. All humanoid factions are going to be re-using animations. The chaos dwarfs will likely fight with the same animations current dwarfs use. The only unit in the HE roster that isnt in the game that would require new animations is probably the sky cutter chariot. A lot of people are saying that they wont even use the rangers in SP so why should CA do a specific animation for a unit that's specifically for MP use? I dont see any of this of bias, but just focusing time/money and key items while trying to give us the most content.
The question is, would the game be better off without those units at all? Personally I think it's fine, it's a pretty low tier unit that people won't use much outside of mp anyway. Also think the stone trolls look just fine, they just ate some rocks and have slightly different skin, that's all.
I think it's fair to point those things out, corners have clearly been cut. But those corners aren't that important (to me) especially since we are getting so much stuff and plenty for free.
That's naggarothi talk as I see it!
There is no such thing as undisciplined high elf fighters. Also, you are talking about shadow warriors in terms of the tactical role they fill, not made up rangers.
Another irony, they are positioned as the cheapest chaff, which high elves aren't supposed to have anyway, but the design is based on an old model for a hero. A model I have on my desk actually.